Cube: Blake and Melody's Escape
by Amber Zephyr Galloway
Summary: Blake was an ordinary boy living with his sister Gale, until he was captured and placed in the Cube. With the aid of other prisoners and a dragoness, he aims to escape alive, while three technicians hunt him and his group down. Rated Fiction T for violence, some blood and mild coarse language. Based off of and inspired by Cube Zero.
1. Prologue and Chapter 1: The Imprisonment

-Prologue-

The sound of a flute echoed through the forest and some wolves howled along, birds chirping, and the sound was coming from a cabin in a clearing in the forest. A boy named Blake, along with his sister Gale, lives in this clearing. And by themselves, for that matter. This was because Bartok, their father, disapperared without explanation a decade before, and their lives were evermore peaceful. "Hey, Gale. I wonder where Dad is... Maybe in the forest?" Blake said to Gale, and the flute sound faded into the forest beyond. "I don't know, Blake... He's gone... You know he disappeared 10 years ago." Gale said, and started to play her flute again. "_I know he's out there... but where?_" Blake wondered to himself. Suddenly, he and Gale feel a few rumbles, but while Gale ignores them, and without her seeing, Blake hides in the tall grass and runs into the forest to investigate. While he looks for what caused the small quakes, something grabs him, but he never gets to know what, as he blacked out the moment he was captured.

-Chapter 1: The Imprisonment-

The vision seemed real to Blake, but to three technicians in an observation room, it wasn't. In another vision, he sees another boy the same age as him, but he doesn't know who. He wakes up, causing the boy to say: "Hey! Sparky, Nightshade! He's awake!" and fled to another room, probably the room where the two women the boy mentioned are in. Movement seemed painful to Blake, but he got used to it, and the pain went away. "Where... am I? This isn't the same... " Blake said, still hurt from the thing that captured him. "My sister... Why can't I remember her name... Where is she..." Blake said before passing out, but someone picks him up and carries him to another room.

"This boy... Is he unconscious?" The person, named Sparky, asks Nightshade, who is another prisoner. "I don't know... Let me check." Nightshade said and Sparky gave him to her. "Ah, thank God... He's still alive. He just passed out, but he'll be fine." Nightshade said to Sparky and Hunter, and Blake woke up again. "It's him!" Hunter said. "Who is he, then? I don't know if we can trust him." Sparky said, and Blake tried to get up. "Who are you...? And how did I get here?" Blake said. "_That question... That would remain a mystery..._" Sparky thought.

"We don't know... And we basically don't know how we even got here." Nightshade said to Blake. "Nightshade... You shouldn't remind him..." Sparky said. "It's alright, Spark. No need to worry." Blake said to Sparky. Sparky was a little shocked as to how Blake knew her name, but she didn't say anything. She was a little confused about Blake, but when she looked at his prison-style clothing, the same clothing that the rest of the prisoners are wearing, she starts to understand. "I-Is there a way out?" Blake said and was about to enter another room when Nightshade stopped him.

"Wait a minute, kid. You can't just enter another room and think it's safe, when it's not. There are traps in here." Nightshade says. "And why do you say that?" Blake said in confusion. "Because... I looked in the room down there and something nearly cut my head off." Sparky said and shows Blake a scar on her shoulder. "Wow... Now I understand. Can I join your group?" Blake offered and while Sparky was hesitant at first, she lets him join and they agree to find a way out of the Cube.

"So... They made an agreement... This'll be interesting..." A senior technician named Nyra said in the observation room. "You think so, Nyra? We'll keep a close observation of them." Another technician, Taylor Wynn, said to Nyra. "Of... who? Them?" The youngest technician, named Nyroc, said to Nyra and Taylor. "Why do you care? You know that they're prisoners." Nyra snapped at him. The junior technician flinched when she said that, but he didn't say anything. "You don't have to be rude to him, he's only ten." Wynn muttered. Nyra didn't say anything, and Wynn became disappointed. "What? It's not like _I _give you weird looks every day, Wynn." Nyra muttered, and both Australians exchanged glances. Nyra got mad, and walked to her area. Nyroc tried to talk to her, but Wynn said that he shouldn't.


	2. The Unknown and Chapter 3: The Dragoness

_"__Blake wound up being captured by an unknown creature and was placed in the Cube, where he meets three other prisoners, and he forgets most of his sister's likenesses. The quartet is currently being watched by technicians Nyra, Taylor Wynn, and ten-year old Nyroc. Can the quartet escape alive, or fall to the traps within the structure?"_

-Chapter 2: The Known and Unknown-

After "testing" a few rooms with her boot, Nightshade realizes that she might not keep Blake or Hunter alive. The quartet enters an amber-colored room, and things start to get critical. "Hey Nightshade, how do you know so much about sensors?" Sparky asked her, and she looks at her. "I just do... I realized that when I first woke up." Nightshade said. "Fine, you're smart... Let's see..." Sparky wondered, and Nightshade opened a door. "A sensor expert, at the right time. I can't believe it..." Sparky said to herself, and Nightshade tests a blue-colored room, and she thinks it's safe. "Is she..." Hunter says to himself before realizing Nightshade's true profession. "An escape artist!" Hunter says out loud.

"Yeah... Like Houdini himself... Only reason I got you three this far is 'cause I needed the boot. And don't even think about what's not even in front of ya." Nightshade replies, and gets into the blue room. "Merde..." She says before activating a trap, and her face is sprayed with acid. She screams as the door closes, and the trio are shocked. She opens the door, and Sparky gets her from the door, and she lays Nightshade on the floor. A dragoness hears the commotion from another room with psychic abilities, and starts heading towards the room. The trio looks upon Nightshade's body, for them to find that the acid had killed her, and Sparky faints in shock. Blake realizes that he needs to be sure enough to stay alive, along with Hunter and Sparky.

The dragoness got closer to the trio than she expected, and simply waits for them. "Hey, Spark. I'm getting the feeling that someone might be close-by..." Blake says in worry. Sparky didn't reply, and Hunter was trying to wake her up. The dragoness snuck into the room and lures Blake into looking into another room. "Look... Are you even sure?" He says to the dragoness, but she didn't reply. Blake looks into the room, and is really shocked about what he sees. "That's my Dad! He was in here the whole time?" The dragoness nods her head, suggesting that it was true.

"_What_? Never before have I seen this!" Nyra yelled out. "Nyra, what's up? And you haven't seen other subject's family members be placed in there? How strange..." Taylor responded. "I'm pretty sure she hasn't, Taylor..." Nyroc muttered. "You are aware that I've been here longer than you two, so _why_ should it matter?" Nyra snapped at the Australians, with Nyroc flinching when she said that.

-Chapter 3: The Boy and the Dragoness-

Sparky woke straight up when Blake mentioned his dad, which accidentally scared Hunter. "Your father's in here? You never told me you had relatives." Sparky said, and Blake let her have a look. "Oh my God, is that really him?" Sparky asked. "I know it is him, and I haven't seen him for a long time." He responded, and the dragoness nearly freaked out. "Calm down! This isn't the first time I saw someone freak." Hunter noted. "I know... I'm sorry if I made you concerned." The dragoness said to him.

Sparky climbed down from the door and she got to another door. "Come on guys, we can't stay here forever. I'll be testing the rooms from now on, now that Nightshade's dead." She said and climbed into another room, which was safe, and the rest of the group followed. Meanwhile, two other subjects climbed into a blue room and a conversation/argument started. "Do you think my son would be in here, Bernadette?" A silver wolf asked a foriegn creature, a winged, quadrupedal, tropical Charmeleon_(Whom_ _he thought was a dragon,) _and she turned to face him."Of course... I sensed him when he first woke up. I know you've been in here before, and it was a... barbed wire trap your human life fell to?" She asked him.

"Yeah... And I last remember that my son was only two years old when I first woke up here ten years ago, and I can't imagine him being all grown up by now." He noted. "If it was that long ago, then how do you still remember that you have children?" She asked, but he didn't answer. "_Bartok!_" She snapped, and apparently the dragoness, named Melody, heard Bernadette and climbed into the room, with Blake and Hunter right behind her. "What? Did I attract attention?" Bernadette muttered, and Bartok, the wolf, looked at Blake for a little bit, without him noticing, and he walked up to him. "Do you think that's a bad idea? I mean, I'm pretty sure that he would be surprised if he notices you." Melody said, but Blake noticed him anyway.

"Blake? I'm not sure if we can trust the wolf..." Sparky said in concern. Bartok became a little offended, and he wanted to say something. "Hey! Don't you know that I'm related to him?" He asked, and Sparky fainted in shock to see a wolf talk. "Told ya..." Melody noted. "Ugh... My God..." Bernadette muttered again, and Melody purposely bumped into her. "Shut up!" She said to Bernadette, and she looked away. "Geez..." Melody said to herself.

"Ugh... I really can't believe that I got stuck with her..." Bartok mutters. He then remembers his human son, who was Blake, and laid down next to him. "Are you sure that he's actually your son?" Bernadette asked, sounding very doubtful. "Of course he is, Bernadette! No need to be doubtful about it." He said to Bernadette, and she simply looked away. Sparky woke up, and Bartok didn't want to talk in front of her, after what he accidentally did. "It's alright, now..." Sparky said to him, and the wolf sighed in relief.

"At least there wouldn't be a problem..." Hunter said to himself. Blake then got very confused. "_Why would they think that a wolf could be related to me? He does sound like my father, though..._" He thought, and Bernadette sensed yet another subject-two, actually-and proceeded towards the room in which they were in. "Well? Are we gonna follow her, or no?" Bartok asked the trio before trying to get to the room where Bernadette and the two subjects were, with Melody helping him.

"What do you think of that, Nyra?" Taylor said sarcastically. "No need to be _sarcastic_, Taylor. And it seems like Nightshade's arrogance, much like her escapist father, got her killed." Nyra commented. Nyroc got a closer look at Nightshade's body, and he found that the trap had dissolved her face, much to his shock. "Err... You two might want to check this out.." Nyroc says to the two. "What's up, Nyroc?" Taylor asked before looking at the body in close detail. "Oh... What the hell?" Taylor murmured. "Isn't it strange for Nyroc to point out the causes of the deaths of prisoners?" Nyra asked in confusion to Taylor, and she answered with, "He's used to it."

"Okay..." Nyra said, still very puzzled. The two Australians then exchanged glances, just as confused as Nyra was, and the three remained silent as the prisoners checked out the two unconscious prisoners, which maybe stranger than Melody or even Bartok, who alternatively goes by the name Silvershade.


	3. Chapter 4: Nyroc's Betrayal

_With Nightshade good and dead, the trio will try to survive with the tactics that she has showed them several times. With friends Ravenclaw and Dragonclaw, silver wolf Bartok, dragoness Melody, the sadistic dragon-Charmeleon hybrid Bernadette, and Nyroc's increasingly tense behavior towards Nyra, the group's fate is still uncertain, and Nyroc might just seal that fate._

_(I know that my writing was kind of basic back in 2014, but I hope that my writing has at least improved a little since then.)_

-_Chapter 4: Nyroc's Betrayal_-

Bernadette climbed into the room and saw not only a Charmeleon like her, but without wings and looks like he could stand bipedally, but a Pidgeot right next to him. "Aren't I right?" Bernadette said as Blake looked into the room. "I have to admit it, you're right, Bernadette..." Blake said as he cimbed into the room.

The Charmeleon opened his eyes, with Bernadette in his sight, which made him freak out and he ran to the other side of the room. "It's okay... We're in the same situation..." Blake said to him, and he calmed down, but he still looked pretty puzzled.

"Where am I? And... where's my friend?" He said as he grabbed the collar of Blake's shirt. "Woah... Calm down, there!" Blake said to him, and Sparky and Hunter came into the room. Sparky saw the Charmeleon and Blake, and said to the creature: "Release him! There's no reason for you to be grabbing him like that!"

Afraid of looking stupid in front of her, he let go of Blake. "I'm sorry for all that... I just don't know where my friend is, that's all." He said, and the Pidgeot woke up. "Okay, who are you referring to as your 'friend?" Sparky asked him. "Err..." He said as the Pidgeot got to the wall behind the Charmeleon. Then, he looked behind himself to look at the Pidgeot.

"Name's Dragonclaw, by the way." He said as he ran towards the Pidgeot. "_Dragonclaw? How would he still remember his name?_" Sparky thought, and because of a split second that she got a glimpse of his shirt, she realized that his name _was _Dragonclaw, and that he wasn't making the name up.

"You alright?" Dragonclaw said to the Pidgeot, and he immediately recongized his voice. "...Dragonclaw? Is that you?" He said to him. "Ravenclaw? It is you!" Dragonclaw said and the two reconciled, while Melody and Bartok exchanged awkward glances.

Sparky became confused and said to the two: "Are you two really friends? I'm not getting this at all." Dragonclaw looked at her with an equally confused face. "Of course we are, ma'am." Ravenclaw said to Sparky as he got up. Bernadette became sick at the idea that Dragonclaw and Ravenclaw were friends, even after their capture, and she lured Hunter into a red-colored room.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Hunter asked Bernadette. "Believe me, Hunter. It's for the better..." She said, stood bipedally, and flicked her tail, but that activated a flamethrower trap, which incinerated both of them. Bernadette's agonizing roar was heard by Melody, and she realized that Hunter was with her. "Guys! I think we lost Hunter _and_ Bernadette!" She said out loud, and Sparky realized that she didn't stop Bernadette.

Blake then opened the door to the red-colored room and Dragonclaw and Melody followed him. From the doorway, with Melody on Dragonclaw's back, the three looked at the two's burned remains. "You're right..." Dragonclaw murmured. "So, we lost not one, but _two _of the group members..." Blake said to himself. "_I should've saw that coming..._" Melody thought and begun to tear up.

"Melody... Even I don't know what the determined fate of this swiftly dwindling group is. We'll just have to see what happens next." Blake said to her, and she climbed to the white-colored room, wanting to understand and realize that fact. Blake and Dragonclaw soon followed, and Sparky begun to feel uncertain that something might happen.

"So... I guess they died by fire... Ain't it so?" Taylor pointed out, and Nyra did not want to respond to that. "Hey, Wynn? I want to tell you something..." Nyroc said to Taylor, and she walked over to his area to listen.

"I don't know if I want to stay here or not... And Nyra'll get pretty angry at me..." He whispered, not wanting Nyra to hear what he's saying. "I understand... And even for me, I was unsure." She said to him, and took off a necklace she was wearing, and handed it to Nyroc. "Your ruby necklace? But... ain't that yours?" Nyroc said in confusion. "I... I want you to keep it, Nyroc. Please... You can be reminded of me whenever you see it. Think of it as a personal gift. Don't ever forget about me, Nyroc..." Taylor said to him, and he looked at her as if to say thanks to her.

Just then, a phone rang, and Nyra answered it. "Guys. One subject reached the exit point." She said after the short conversation was over. "Then... What shall we do?" Taylor asked her. "We shall do... an exit procedure. Nyroc, pay close attention." Nyra said to the two, and got to a peice of equipment in order to perform the procedure, with Taylor behind her.

Meanwhile, an injured prisoner tries to find his way out of a seemingly endless white space. In an instant and unexpectedly, everything went black and he soon finds himself constrained by a neck brace that is supported by metal rods that were connected to the metal floor, and a grid was underneath his feet. Nyra, with a serious French accent, asked him this: "Do you remember your name?"

"_That's strange for a voice like that..._" He thought. "Well?" She asked again. "It's Jason..." He replied. "Now... here's the second question: Do you believe in God?" She asked him. It took him a little bit to think of his answer, but didn't reply right away. Nyroc simply looked at the two, not wanting to see what Nyra can possibly do to the prisoner.

"I do not." He said, and Taylor was forced by Nyra to incinerate him. Nyroc watched in horror as the man screamed in agonizing pain and he was soon nothing but a skeleton. "Well... That'll settle it..." Nyra said and Taylor got back to her area. Nyroc was simply astounded when he got one last glance of the skeleton before looking away. "_Why does Nyra purposely scare me when I'm not looking? And why is she so mean? I really can't take being around her anymore with her scaring me purposely all the time..._" Nyroc thought, but didn't want to say anything.

(_In the Cube..._)

"So... What now?" Ravenclaw asked. "I don't know... And I'm getting this weird feeling that... something might happen." Sparky said in concern, and Dragonclaw opened a door to another blue-colored room, and he spotted something. "Hey, guys. I think someone's in the room over here." He said, and Ravenclaw looked into the room. "I think Dragonclaw's right, guys. There's a woman... but is she dead or alive?" He said in confusion. "According to my senses, she's most likely dead. But something about her cause of death tells me that we shouldn't investigate her body..." Melody said to Ravenclaw. "I'm sure we'll be fine." Ravenclaw replied and entered the room.

He walked towards the body in caution, not knowing what could've caused her demise. "Melody might be right, Ravenclaw. I'd suggest not getting near it." Blake advised as he climbed into the room, but Ravenclaw ignored him. He got a closer look, and found that she had been infected with some sort of disease. Bartok pulled Ravenclaw from the body and got him against the wall. "Are you nuts? You want to get infected?" The wolf said to him, and he noticed blood on Ravenclaw's body. Dragonclaw and Blake also noticed, and Blake said to him: "Ravenclaw? What's happening to you?"

"What?" Ravenclaw replied, and Dragonclaw was brave enough to say something to his friend. "Oh, my- Y-your face!" He yelled out, and Ravenclaw looked at down at himself to discover that _he _was infected with the disease. "Ravenclaw! Melody _was _right! You're infected with the same flesh-eating virus that the woman was infected with." Sparky said to him. "Oh, my God... Now what?" He asked Sparky. "I don't know..." She replied, and Blake opened the door that was constructed into the floor, revealing an amber-colored room, and the group noticed that there were no dead bodies, but there were signs that it was indeed a trap room. "Down there? There's no way I'm flying down there..." Ravenclaw scoffed.

"Well..." Sparky said to him and made him lose his balance-and couldn't keep a grip on the construction-to fall into the room, which made Dragonclaw extremely concerned for what might happen to him. Blake tried to open the door again, but to no avail. "Ugh... What is up with that woman?" Ravenclaw said to himself as he got to his feet. He was able to move around for a bit before seeing the doors in the walls being covered by something that he didn't recongize. "What is going on?" He muttered in fear, and unexpectedly, an electric current sparked a corner of the room. It then spread to the other three corners, and covered the doors and the floor. Ravenclaw suddenly realized that he was were he wasn't supposed to stand, but by the time he realized that, a strong electrical current was coursing through his body. He collapsed on the floor with most of his strength gone, and he died where he collapsed.

Blake finally got the door open, and saw Ravenclaw's dead body lying in the room below. "Ravenclaw!" Dragonclaw yelled out in concern as he looked into the room below. "There's nothing we can do now, Dragonclaw. He's gone. …Dead." Bartok said to Dragonclaw, and he looked at the wolf. "He can't be... Now what am I gonna do?" He said. "I don't know..." Melody replied.

(_In the observation room..._)

"That settles it..." Taylor said. "Settles what? Get your damn act together, Taylor! If someone else can understand it, then why the hell do _I _care?" Nyra snapped. "Well, if that particular 'someone' isn't here, then why are you complaining about it?" Taylor said. "I ain't complaining." Nyra said. "No matter what, just shut up!" Taylor said to Nyra.

Nyroc looked at the two as they argued. "I know you're arguing..." He said. "And how exactly do you know? You're as blind as a bat!" Nyra snapped. "He still has his hearing, you know." Taylor said. "Okay... You win..." Nyra admitted. "...But he's still blind." Nyroc supernaturally glared at Nyra with his blind eyes in disgust, which, for the first time in his memory, made Nyra cringe. Nyroc, taking advantage of this, he slowly and silently crept towards the elevator that either led to the observation room, where he was at, the room where the higher-ranked "officials" are, or the Cube.

Nyra knew that Nyroc was trying to sneak past her, got up, and said to Nyroc: "Hey! Where the hell do you think you're going?" Nyroc became petrified by Nyra's sudden change in tone. "Come on... Be a good boy..." Nyra decievingly said to him. "Go on, Nyroc," Taylor whispered, so Nyra wouln't hear her, but Nyroc did. "Escape from her wrath... Before she unleashes it on you..." Nyra, in sudden rage, looked at Taylor.

"_What_ did you just say?" said an enraged Nyra. Nyroc knew he only had a few seconds to escape the observation room, so he crept a bit closer to the elevator. Taylor, in a sudden surge of adrenaline, got up and said to Nyroc: "Nyroc! M-make a run for it! Please!" This prompted Nyroc to dash towards the elevator, and Nyra got a knife from her storage cabinet, intending to "_get rid_" of Taylor before she causes "_any more trouble._" Taylor also attempted to run towards the elevator, but Nyra grabbed her shirt's collar before she can make her escape. Nyroc heard Taylor's gurgled screams as he escaped, with his heart pounding and him shaking in fear.

Nyroc knew that he was lucky to still be alive, but what for? He'll soon be in the Cube, where a sensory disability like his blindness wouldn't enable people with one to even last a few minutes. A blind person could easily stumble upon a trap. Nyroc knew he wasn't like that: he had acute senses (Ex. His senses of hearing and smell) and extrasensory perception had developed in place of his nearly nonexistent sight. The elevator's movement suddenly stopped, with it's doors opening, and a blue light filled the elevator as the round door to the Cube opened...


	4. Chapter 5: The Cube and It's Technician

-_Chapter 5: The Cube and It's Technician_-

Still shaking in fear, Nyroc entered the blue room. "I just hope I'd be safe from _her_..." He whispered. He knew from the noises after Nyra's fit of anger that Taylor was dead, and that Nyra would stop at nothing to try to lure him into a seemingly safe room to kill him. He suddenly heard something, and climbed into the room where it came from. It turned out to be a boot that was thrown into the room, and Nyroc proceeded to investigate it. "Kid!" A woman said, which turned out to be Sparky. "What are you doing?" She said. Nyroc, still petrified, said: "I... I didn't know..." She climbed into the room and said to him: "You alright, kid? What happened?"

"He's probably too frightened to speak of anything..." Bartok said. "Something had to happen!" yelled Dragonclaw from the other room before the door closed, both in grief of Ravenclaw's death, and in confusion as to how Nyroc could've gotten there. "Calm down, there..." Blake said to Dragonclaw, rubbing the Charmeleon's back. "How the hell would I be calm right now?" Dragonclaw snapped. "Come on, before Spark starts to worry." said Blake. Dragonclaw then climbed to the door, taking one last glimpse of the woman's necrotizing fasciitis-infected body before opening the door to enter the room where Nyroc was, with Blake and Melody following suit.

Upon seeing Sparky, Dragonclaw procceded to attack her, but is held back by Blake and Nyroc. "You murderer!" He screamed. "That was homicide! You can't just kill someone!" He said. "Jesus! If Ravenclaw would've stayed alive, all of us would be _dead_ right now!" snapped Sparky. "Not him..." Melody said, nodding her head towards Nyroc. "Or the wolf." Nyroc added. "True, " Bartok said. "But if Blake or Sparky was indeed infected with that disease, it could spread to that boy if you touched him!"

"How would I know? Only Ravenclaw was infected after he came into contact with that body!" Blake said. "My statement was only hypothetical, Blake!" Bartok replied. Nyroc merely wimpered at the thought Sparky's words gave him. "Is he alright?" Sparky asked. Blake then walked up to Nyroc to investigate him. "He's not injured in any way..." Blake said, but when he faced Nyroc, he clearly saw Nyroc's pale gray, pupil-less eyes. "My goodness..." He said, waving his hand in front of Nyroc's face. "He's clearly in some sort of... trance..." Dragonclaw said.

"No, he isn't," said Sparky, now noticing the lifeless expression in Nyroc's eyes. "He's merely blind! In the most extreme cases, the eyes of a blind person can look blank and emotionless." She said. "...I can still hear you." Nyroc said. Nyroc's sudden tone in voice scared the bejesus out of Sparky, and she nearly had an anxiety attack. "Jesus Christ!" Sparky screamed. "D-damn! I wasn't expecting that!" She said between rapid breaths. "He isn't deaf, you know!" Dragonclaw said to Sparky.

"Not once have I heard a person react to something like that!" Nyroc said. "I easily get anxiety attacks..." replied Sparky. "And do you act that way _on purpose_?" She said. "No, I do not!" said Nyroc. "Guys! I believe that's enough!" Bartok said to both Sparky and Nyroc. "We don't want any fighting, you know!" Melody chimed in. "Alright! Fine!" scoffed Sparky. "We need to move! Me and Spark agreed to try and make it out alive!" said Blake. "And four individuals have already perished. And Blake and I are the only two prisoners left of the original quartet!" Sparky chimed in.

"And we'll keep this group together?" Melody asked. "Of course!" Dragonclaw said. "Until we see the exit?" Bartok said. "Then... We're all for it!" Nyroc added.

"Test the room to my left, Blake." Sparky said to Blake. "Alright..." Blake said, and Sparky tossed the boot to him. Blake peered into the room before throwing it in. "It's safe..." Blake said before getting the boot and climbing into the room. The door suddenly closed behind him, and he saw what looked like screws emerging from the walls. "Hmm?" said Blake in confusion, rolling up his right sleeve to slightly above his right elbow, and tied the boot to his belt. Suddenly, a string of razor wire came into his line of sight. "What is..." He said before another string of wire tripped him.

Unbeknowinst to him until a split second afterwards, his right arm got lodged in a third string of wire. "This can't be happening!" Blake said before the wire pulled itself back, slicing a major portion of his arm off. Blake's agonizing screams were heard from the other room. "Son!" Bartok said in worry, apparently remembering his last minutes as a human. "Oh, my God..." said Sparky. Blake covered what was left of his arm with the somehow intact right sleeve, and weakly came back to the room where the rest of the group was.

"My God..." Sparky said in concern and got Blake from the doorway, placing him on the floor; He was barely conscious from the blood loss. "He's incredibly pale..." She said. "Are you sure he's alive?" Dragonclaw said. "He's alive, but his pulse is weak..." Sparky replied. "Oh..." Blake weakly said as he regained some of his consciousness. "C-can you hear me?" Sparky said to Blake. "B-barely," He weakly replied. "I feel light-headed..." He said. Blake then tried to get to his feet, but collapsed onto the floor again. "Blake... I feel like you need to at least refrain from even trying to stand up until some of your strength has been replenished..." said Sparky.

"Then... How're we going to get him from room to room? He's obviously a teen!" Dragonclaw said. "Erm... He's twelve years old..." Bartok chimed in. "I'll carry him! Dragonclaw, you'll be testing the rooms until I say so!" Sparky said as she was getting Blake onto her back with Bartok's assistance. "I'll get the boot..." Dragonclaw said and untied the boot from Blake's belt. "Will he be alright?" Nyroc asked. "Of course..." Sparky replied in a monotone voice.

Dragonclaw then climbed inside the passageway between the blue room and an amber-colored room when he opened the door, and tossed the boot into it. Nothing happened. "The sensor in the room where Blake encountered that trap may have been a heat sensor..." Dragonclaw said. "How the hell... Hey! You're just like Nightshade, if I recall!" Sparky said. "Who the hell is Nightshade?" Dragonclaw asked. "Dammit... Ugh! Nevermind!" Sparky replied. "Is it safe?" Bartok chimed in. "Of course!" Dragonclaw replied. He got to the floor, and immediately spotted two more unconscious prisoners.

"God... How many humans are in this death trap?" Dragonclaw asked himself. He nudged the female, and slightly opened her left eye. "Dragonclaw!" Sparky snapped. Stammering and looking at Sparky, Dragonclaw replied with: "Oh, God! W-where did you come from?!" The Charmeleon immediately got to his feet, and Sparky climbed into the room, with Blake on her back.

"Help me out, Dragonclaw!" Sparky told Dragonclaw, and he aided Sparky by, with difficulty, holding Blake until she had her feet on the floor. "Oh, damn! He's heavy!" Dragonclaw said. "Hang on there..." Sparky replied, and positioned herself to fake being Dragonclaw's height. "Here we go, Blake..." Dragonclaw said, and positioned Blake so that Sparky could hold him. By the time the two were done with that, however, the female prisoner had woken up and was now sitting with her back against the wall.

"Who is that...?" Blake whispered. "I have no idea..." Sparky replied, also in a whisper. Dragonclaw got a fairly long glimpse of the stitching on the prisoner's shirt, and it read: "_Vladimirescu_." Melody then climbed into the room, with Bartok's voice saying to Nyroc: "Are you sure you can navigate on your own?" Nyroc replied with: "Of course I can!" He then proceeded to demonstrate by grabbing one of the poles of the 5'7" ladder without investigating it first, and climbed to the passageway. "Come on... I'll help you up..." Nyroc said, and got to the floor of the room Bartok was in.

Vladimirescu growled at Dragonclaw once she realized that he was looking at her. "That's unnatural..." He said. "_Stay away..._" Vladimirescu said (In Dragonclaw's mind) in English, while to Blake and Sparky, it sounded like she spoke Romanian. "What the hell did she say?" Sparky said. "I can speak English, too." Vladimirescu replied, and got to her feet. "Oh, God..." Sparky said when Vladimirescu got up. "She's tall..." said Dragonclaw.

Six feet five inches was Vladimirescu's height; Sparky is seven inches shorter than her. "What about the boy?" Dragonclaw asked. "Pardon?" Vladimirescu said before noticing the boy, who was still unconscious. "Blake? You alright?" Sparky asked Blake. "Yeah... Feeling a bit better..." He replied. Sparky then gently put him down on the floor, and Nyroc and Bartok came into the room.

"Is the boy alright?" Vladimirescu asked, reguarding Blake. "Somewhat. He somehow managed to survive a trap; ...At the cost of most of his right arm, as you can clearly see." Bartok replied. "Oh, my," Vladimirescu said in concern. "How did he survive then, with the blood loss?"

"Must have been pure luck." Sparky replied. Blake then tried to get to his feet again, and did so, though weakly, with Dragonclaw's assistance. "Were you carrying him before?" Vladimirescu asked. "I was, but I put him down." Sparky said. "Oh..." Vladimirescu replied. Sparky then checked the unconscious, Arab-looking boy for any signs of his pulse or breathing. "Aw, thank God... He's still alive." Sparky said. The boy heard Sparky and woke up. "Uhn..." The boy moaned. "Where am I...?" He said. "He's awake..." Blake said.

"Hey there..." Sparky gently said. "Can you hear me?" She said. "Barely, but I can interpret what you're saying..." The boy said, with the stitchings on his shirt revealing that he was called "_Phoenix._" He was clearly younger than Nyroc, and had a strange star marking on the back of his neck. "Who is that boy, exactly?" Dragonclaw asked.

"I have no idea, Dragonclaw..." Sparky replied. Vladimirescu looked at Phoenix for quite a bit before looking away. "I don't even know what happened..." Phoenix moaned and looked around the room. "Neither do we. None of us know how we got here–or virtually anything else!" Dragonclaw said. "Including who we are." Sparky chimed in. "It's weird. I knew that I have a sister–but I barely remember who she is!" Blake said.

Phoenix was astonished when he heard what Blake said. He remembered that _he _had a sister too–but he only remembers what she looked like. He then got up and looked at Vladimirescu, and he realized something: That Vladimirescu _was_ his sister, being more than six feet tall and having hair that was dyed red. "Horatíu...?" He said, and she looked at him."I... I think you're mistaking me for someone else..." She said.

"Don't be foolish!" Phoenix said. Horatiu then looked at Phoenix, trying to figure out if he was right. "Is he...?" She muttered before looking away and realizing that he _was_ right; That Phoenix was her brother. The room suddenly shook, knocking Blake and Dragonclaw off their feet. "What the hell was that?" Horatiu said. "I have no idea what that–" Bartok said before Sparky opened a door to a room–only to see that there _was _no room; The door led to the "_outer shell_" of the Cube, where it was pitch black if one tried to look down.

"What the hell?" Sparky muttered. "What's up?" Dragonclaw said as he got up. "There aren't any rooms beyond this door..." Sparky replied. "Let me see..." Bartok said, and climbed to the passageway to see if Sparky was right. "God... She is right..." He said and climbed back to the floor. "I'm not sure if we should send someone out there... In case it shakes again." Sparky said, knowing how deep the outer shell could be.

"I'll be the one to investigate!" Phoenix immediately chimed in. "Alright.." Sparky said to him and allowed enough room for him to fit in the passageway with her. "That's a long drop..." Phoenix said to himself before the Cube shook again, making him slip and luckily managed to grab onto the railing surrounding the passageway. "_Ajutor!_" He yelled, and Horatiu said to Sparky: "Help him! He can't keep his grip on that for long!"

"_Ajutor! _...Horatiu!" Phoenix said, and with Sparky refusing to help him, he loses his grip and falls to his death. Once Sparky gets back into the room, Horatiu immediately pins her to the wall in anger. "Why the hell would you let him fall? You can't do that to...to children!" Horatiu snapped. Sparky simply stared at Horatiu with a straight face, envoking confusion in Horatiu. "_First Ravenclaw, now the boy! What the hell is wrong with this Brit?_" Dragonclaw thought.

"Get your arm off of me," Sparky said, and got Horatiu's arm off of her chest. "I cannot be the one to blame!" Without anybody else in the group noticing, Nyroc climbed into a errily-lit white room, and didn't notice anyone in there until he got a long glimpse of it. "Guys! There's a woman in here!" Nyroc said before the door closed. "Oh God..." Sparky muttered and found the door of which Nyroc opened and got into the room, with the rest of the group directly behind her.


End file.
